Cato calls Jindal's hand on film tax welfare--

I know Russian is going to say Cato has no idea what they are talking about but here it is any way--

quote:

Louisiana

Bobby Jindal, Republican Legislature: RepublicanGrade: B Took Office: January 2008Bobby Jindal is a popular and accomplished governor with a fiscally conservative record. Jindal repealed income tax increases that were put in place in 2002, and he has supportedmodest business tax cuts while vetoing tax increases.

However, Jindal has succumbed to “taxincentive disease.” He has supported tax breaks for film production, music recording, andother activities. In 2011 he even made the state’s digital media tax incentives “refundable,”which means that the government will hand out cash to favored digital media businesses.

Jindal’s score is boosted by his frugal spending record. General fund spending is expect-ed to be lower in fiscal 2013 than it was in fiscal 2010. And state government employmentis down about 10 percent since Jindal came into office in 2008.

In 2012 Jindal signed into law major reforms to pensions, which will move new state workers to a 401(k)-style plan.

re: Cato calls Jindal's hand on film tax welfare--(Posted by Choctaw on 10/9/12 at 8:52 am to I B Freeman)

if it helps bring the industry to Louisiana...whats the problem?

also...

quote:Jindal’s score is boosted by his frugal spending record. General fund spending is expect-ed to be lower in fiscal 2013 than it was in fiscal 2010. And state government employmentis down about 10 percent since Jindal came into office in 2008.

ProjectP2294Penn FanSouth St. Louis cityMember since May 200733733 posts

re: Cato calls Jindal's hand on film tax welfare--(Posted by ProjectP2294 on 10/9/12 at 9:20 am to Choctaw)

quote:And state government employmentis down about 10 percent since Jindal came into office in 2008.

This is awesome. And I bet there is still a lot more that can be cut, or positions eliminated as they're vacated, or people moved around. Too many management positions in state government work, but at least we're making progress.

re: Cato calls Jindal's hand on film tax welfare--(Posted by I B Freeman on 10/9/12 at 9:21 am to LSUMJ)

We gave away over $200 million in cash money in corporate welfare to film makers to reimburse them for expenses--not capital investments in Louisiana this year alone. That is about the same amount of money as the budget shortfall.

No other industry get a subsidy like that in Louisiana. Not even oil and gas. All other economic subsidies are self funding. By having a unique refundable tax credit the film industry doesn't even have to generate tax obligations to use the credits.

The small government, low tax Cato Institute and I consider it a waste of tax payer money and corporate welfare in it's worse form.

re: Cato calls Jindal's hand on film tax welfare--(Posted by Catman88 on 10/9/12 at 9:22 am to lsuroadie)

This is the same guy that said in the other thread he started on the same subject that if there were ONE MILLION 50k paying jobs that came from this industry to JUST Louisiana that we would be in the hole. Do you expect him to think "jobs and revenue and publicity" matters?

ProjectP2294Penn FanSouth St. Louis cityMember since May 200733733 posts

re: Cato calls Jindal's hand on film tax welfare--(Posted by ProjectP2294 on 10/9/12 at 9:23 am to LSURussian)

quote:I'm guessing this thread is not turning out the way Freeman thought it would.

I'm starting to think he's not anti-Jindal, but he's actually a plant from the movie industry either in NY or CA trying to get people riled up in Louisiana so that we stop pulling business away from those states.

Jindal got a "B" but for the film tax credits he would have gotten an "A".

Maybe these film tax credit advocates can explain just how an institution that is grading governors from a small government prospective can lower a governor's grade because of what they think is a good program.

I am all for the film industry so long as I am not forced to finance it as I am as a taxpayer in Louisiana.

re: Cato calls Jindal's hand on film tax welfare--(Posted by TROLA on 10/9/12 at 9:27 am to I B Freeman)

I will agree that the program is coming to a tipping point or may have have already passed one. The idea all along was to establish the base and then ease the incentives in a hope that the shift of capital resources would buoy the long term viability of the industry within Louisiana. The wind down and timing of the credits is a hard call to make.

re: Cato calls Jindal's hand on film tax welfare--(Posted by I B Freeman on 10/9/12 at 9:27 am to Catman88)

quote:This is the same guy that said in the other thread he started on the same subject that if there were ONE MILLION 50k paying jobs that came from this industry to JUST Louisiana that we would be in the hole. Do you expect him to think "jobs and revenue and publicity" matters?

Hey Catman tell us how much cash money the state would pay out in one year to film tax industry in taxpayer money if there were one million $50K jobs eligible for the film tax credit. It is easy to compute.